The town has a high environmental value and takes its name from the “Hair of Venus” waterfall: a hymn to the hair of the goddess of beauty Venus
Casaletto Spartano
Casaletto Spartano is a small village wedged and hidden between the mountains and rocky cliffs
Casaletto Spartano is a small village wedged and hidden between the mountains and rocky cliffs, immersed in a vegetation always rich in scents and colors, which offers a corner of natural "paradise" as there are few in the entire Cilento, a rich territory of history and traditions still unknown to many people.
CASALETTO BETWEEN HISTORY AND LEGEND
According to a legend, the village developed into the “Spartoso” district, from which the second name “Spartano” derives. A curious story wraps in legend the origins of Casaletto whose inhabitants, attacked by ants, were forced to transmigrate to the current site around the year 1000. The version of local historians, on the other hand, attributes this emigration towards the interior in search of a place richer in water. The first nucleus of the town, therefore, probably arose at the foot of Mount Difesa, a place rich in water as there are numerous springs and a small river in the area.
The toponym "Casaletto" derives, as you can easily guess, from "casale". In fact Casalecti, in the Middle Ages, was, together with Bactalearum (Battaglia) a farmhouse in the Tortorella area. In 1562 the Casaletto and Battaglia hamlets were sold by Trojano Spinelli, marquis of Mesoraca, prince of Scalea and lord of the Tortorella lands, to Baron Giovanni Antonio Gallotti and then detached from the original fief. In 1656 the country was, like all of southern Italy, struck by the plague, which reduced the population to less than half. The unification of the municipalities of Casaletto and Battaglia took place in 1810, by order of the French general Charles Antoine Manhès. He was commissioned by the king of Naples, Gioacchino Murat, to solve the problem of pro-Bourbon banditry in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Arriving in the Gulf of Policastro, he sent orders to the mayor of Casaletto to prepare fodder and provisions for his army. The mayor, however, deliberately or due to lack of means, failed to meet the requests of the general who, having arrived in the village and accusing the mayor of being in league with the pro-Bourbon brigands, had him shot in the place called "alle pietra del Campo", ordering the reunification of the municipalities of Casaletto and Battaglia and requiring the mayor of Battaglia to move to Casaletto, which was elected capital. The term "Spartan" was added to "Casaletto" only after the unification of Italy. It almost certainly derives from that of a grass, the "esparto", a grass that is widespread throughout the surrounding area.
Today the town, bathed by the clear and fresh waters of the Casaletto stream, consists of the two main inhabited centers which are the nearby hamlet of Battaglia and the capital Casaletto Spartano, plus a whole series of rural districts (about thirty) scattered throughout the territory that it has a total area of over 70.17 km². Casaletto Spartano and Battaglia are divided by the Rio di Casaletto watercourse and connected to each other by some paths.
The town, with an essentially agricultural economy, produces construction timber, coals, cheeses, wines, sausages and livestock farming is highly developed.
MONUMENTS AND PLACES OF INTEREST
In the Church of San Nicola di Bari there is the first document that can give a historiographic location to the town: a small stone plaque placed at the entrance of the left lateral nave with a Latin inscription that recalls the consecration of the church and bearing the date 1177 .
Destroyed by the earthquake of 1857, demolished and rebuilt at the beginning of the twentieth century, the church has a truly unusual and valuable stucco decoration inside, the work of skilled craftsmen, perhaps coming from the Neapolitan areas.
Continuing beyond the town, you reach the Norman bridge, near which there is a fountain, from which the waters of the Capello spring flow. In Battaglia, a hamlet of Casaletto, the Baronial Palace of the Gallotti is worthy of note, with its beautiful façade and its corner towers and the Church of Santa Maria della Stella. It preserves a sixteenth-century fresco depicting the Deposition from the cross, a palmar cultural expression of the Bulgarian communities, emigrated and present, for centuries, in the territory.
NATURAL AREAS FOR TREKKING LOVERS
Outside the town, a fountain after a stone bridge with low parapets indicates the Capello spring. Here begins a path carefully equipped with barriers and wooden poles that accompanies the hiker in an enchanted world made of a thousand scents, of an intense green with countless chromatic shades, gushing waterfalls and streams of crystalline water, characteristic wooden bridges and rocks smoothed by the water. Even the animal world seems to participate in this wonderful festival of nature: water snakes that climb on floating branches and trout that jump to the surface of the water. Nearby is the ruins of an ancient bridge built by the French in the 1700s. But the highlight of the place is an ancient building located along the banks of the stream: an old mill that was powered by the force of water along the bank of Rio Casaletto has been equipped and used as a permanent exhibition on the history and traditions of civilization. peasant of Cilento. This "museum" collects ancient period costumes, everyday objects, tools for the craftsmanship of dairy products, sausages, bread, tools for processing and spinning wool, shapes for sweets typical, straw for the weaving of baskets (the so-called "panari"), embroidery of fabrics, a collection of traditional local songs. In addition, old photos from the era enrich this environment making it even more suggestive.
The most representative place of Casaletto is undoubtedly "Il Capello". The town has a high environmental value and takes its name from the “Hair of Venus” waterfall: a hymn to the hair of the goddess of beauty Venus. The name of the waterfall refers to the Maidenhair plant which, together with the water, creates the effect of the hair of the Goddess.
Il Capello has a whole series of internal paths that allow you to visit various panoramic points of the waterway. Being seduced by the nature trails, which wind and intertwine within the area, is a pleasure that cannot and must not be given up.
